JP5287041B2 - Data processing system, computer readable data storage medium and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to computer device drivers, job ticket-based devices, and page description language (PDL) peripheral device environments.

  The peripheral device can be coupled to a computer. An application program operating on a computer usually controls a peripheral device via a device driver, and a specific device driver is used for each peripheral device for various types of peripheral devices. Device drivers are generally specific to the device type, the processor and the operating system (platform) on which the device driver is running, and often even specific to the type of data generated by the platform. There is a need to.

  Each device driver functions as an interface related to an operating system and application programs, and communicates with peripheral devices. Device drivers are typically hardware dependent, and each device driver is a specific type of peripheral hardware (eg printer, scanner, video adapter, network interface card, sound card, web camera, digital camera) Etc.) designed.

When the peripheral device is a printer, the device driver is called a printer driver, and interacts with an application program that generates a graphic object. The graphic object is data that can be printed on paper. The printer driver also controls printer hardware characteristics and settings such as output paper tray and paper size. The printer driver converts a request issued from an application program into a printer-specific control language (PDL: Page Description Language) such as PostScript, PCL, PJL, or the like. Data communicated between the printer driver and the printer includes both hardware control commands and printable data that are mixed together in the PDL data stream.
Some high-end printers (especially those used in commercial or large-scale production printing environments) are ticket-based printers that use commands expressed in the Job Definition Format (JDF). Supports control (function). JDF allows a printer driver to send a printer driver a printer job ticket based printer control command in one data stream and printable data in a second data stream sent to the printer at another time. In this technique, control commands and printable data are mixed.

  In a typical approach, when setting job-related settings for a specific job on a specific peripheral device, an application launches a device driver, displays a certain user interface, and through that interface The user can select various parameter values (job setting values) or other job setting values. The device driver interprets the selection contents and converts the selection contents into a group of job setting data. The driver sends job configuration data to the device, which may be bundled with the actual job data, or sent separately using a message or data structure called a “job ticket” .

  Conventional device driver development is complex. Peripheral manufacturers usually have to invest considerable resources to develop a wide variety of drivers and take into account everything that is done by the manufacturer and the target computer platform. In addition, the user interface provided with the device driver is usually a fixed one, and if the device is upgraded with new features, the manufacturer will upgrade the driver and use the upgraded user interface to New features need to be presented.

  A universal serial bus (USB) flash memory storage device is an example of a peripheral device, and is affected by restrictions associated with a conventional device driver. In the current Microsoft Windows environment, a typical USB storage device or “memory stick” does not require the user to install new software to read from or write to the device. This is because Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Vista have standard USB storage device drivers. While this is convenient, competing USB storage device manufacturers must follow the standard specifications supported by Windows device drivers. Each manufacturer cannot have unique characteristics, and various manufacturers can only compete in the market based on price and shape, and cannot compete with the technical characteristics of the contents.

  Microsoft has introduced a document format called XML Paper Specification (XPS), which includes a job ticket called Print Schema in preparation for controlling the printer hardware.

  A device driver for a scanner device called a scanner driver interacts with an application program for taking out a scanned image. Data communicated between the scanner driver and the scanner device includes scanned image data and control commands unique to the scanner device. Image data and scanner control commands may be mixed together in a format such as TWAIN.

  The approaches described in this section are traceable approaches, but not necessarily approaches that have been considered or tracked in the past. Thus, unless otherwise noted, any approach described in this section should not be assumed to be considered prior art simply because it is included in this section.

  It is to provide devices and methods suitable for allowing various manufacturers to compete in the market not only by product price and shape, but also by the technical characteristics of the contents.

  In one embodiment, a data processing system having device driver generation logic and device job processing logic is used, wherein the device driver generation logic is encoded and executed for execution on one or more computer-readable storage media. The following procedure is executed when the first function description information is received from the computer peripheral device, and the first function description information includes one or more functions of the computer peripheral device. A step of writing, a step of receiving a general device driver file, a step of receiving configuration data, and the first function description information, the general device driver file and the configuration data The computer peripherals and the computer Automatically generating a device driver for a data operating system, wherein the device job processing logic receives a request to use the computer peripheral device from the computer peripheral device at the time of the request Based on the first function description information, a job ticket describing a job to be executed by the computer peripheral device is generated and transmitted to the computer peripheral device so as to request and receive the first function description information. And job data formatted in a page description language is provided to the computer peripheral device.

  In one embodiment, the device driver generation logic further comprises certain logic that, when activated, receives user input from the operating system representing a request to install a newly discovered computer peripheral. The step of automatically generating is executed in response to the user input.

  In one embodiment, the device driver generation logic further comprises certain logic that, when activated, receives and generates metadata identifying attributes of the computer peripheral device from the computer peripheral device. The logic includes logic for generating the device driver based on the metadata.

  In one embodiment, the device driver generation logic further comprises certain logic that, when activated, identifies from the computer peripheral device model-specific features and options of the computer peripheral device. Logic for receiving and generating data includes logic for generating the device driver based on the device configuration data.

  In one embodiment, the device driver generation logic further comprises a logic that, when activated, a first resource group in a first language and a second resource group in a second language of the computer peripheral device. The logic for receiving and generating the mapping file that associates with each other includes logic for generating the device driver based on the mapping file.

  In one embodiment, the configuration data includes attribute values related to building a rendering module, a user interface module, and a device driver package.

  In one embodiment, the device driver generation logic is configured to merge the job ticket data into the stream of job data formatted in a page description language sent to the computer peripheral device.

  In one embodiment, the computer peripheral device further comprises job ticket consumer logic encoded for execution on one or more computer readable storage media, the job ticket consumer logic being activated when the job ticket consumer logic is activated. The job ticket data is converted into one or more device-specific processing commands of the computer peripheral device, causing the computer peripheral device to execute the processing command.

  In one embodiment, the computer peripheral device includes any one of a printer, a multifunction peripheral, a scanner, a finishing device, a digital camera, and a monitor. In one embodiment, the job ticket data forms part of the first function description information.

  In one embodiment, the first function description information includes a list of features related to the computer peripheral device, feature property name, property value, and property option, either in a job definition format (JDF) or a printing schema standard specification. In the form expressed in

  In one embodiment, the first function description information includes features of the computer peripheral device and a list of one or more constraint features, wherein the one or more constraint features are: (a) availability of the function Or (b) settings related to functions required by using another function or by another setting of another function.

  In one embodiment, the device driver generation logic further comprises a logic that, when activated, displays a list of a plurality of available peripheral devices, and selects one of the available peripheral devices. Receiving a second user input representing selection and generating the device driver to send a request to a selected one of the available peripherals represented by the second user input .

  Other embodiments include a computer-used method and a computer-readable storage medium that is constructed according to the steps described above and encoded into the storage medium with instructions that perform its functions.

  In the following detailed description for purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent that the invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

1.0 Overview of Structure and Function In general, the techniques described below allow device functions and job tickets to be exchanged so that software that is developed and deployed can create new peripheral devices and new functions of peripheral devices. Make it possible to support. This technique allows peripheral device manufacturers to introduce new products and new features without releasing new device drivers and forcing users to update their software.

  In one embodiment, when a device driver uses this technique, the application program communicates with the device driver in the same manner as an application program that communicates with a conventional device driver. When using a device driver that implements this technique, the application program need not be changed at all.

  In one embodiment, a driver can operate with all devices and those devices can describe their own functions and features in a way that the driver can understand. Thus, a single driver can work with multiple peripheral devices and there is no need to write multiple drivers for every combination of peripheral device and computer platform.

  In one embodiment, the job data is separate from the job setting data and device function data. The driver sends a job ticket to the peripheral device, but the driver does not need to send job data to the peripheral device at the same time as the job ticket.

  Embodiments can be used in various environments where job data is defined separately from job settings. For example, in the case of a printing system, an application program, a device driver, and a printer driver can generate and use job data independently of job setting data. In one embodiment, a web service printing method is used. The application program and driver send a print ticket message or job ticket message to the printer separately from the job data package, and the printer driver processes the two parts separately to generate print output from the job data. Apply settings.

2.0 Examples
2.1 Function-based control of computer peripherals
FIG. 1 shows an example of a computer system in which a device capability aware application and a capability aware peripheral device (hereinafter, function aware peripheral device is also referred to as a peripheral device) are used. In one embodiment, user 102 interacts with host computer 104. Here, the host computer may be a personal computer, a workstation, a server, a wireless communication device, a mobile phone, or any other type of host computer. The host computer has an operating system 106, which acts as a host for and controls the device capability detection application program 110. The host computer further includes an interface 108, which is coupled directly or indirectly to one or more functional awareness peripheral devices 112, 114 via one or more networks 116. Each functional awareness peripheral device may represent one or more physical devices, such as a printer server.

  Specific examples of the operating system 106 include LINUX, UNIX (registered trademark), Apple's MAC-OS, and Microsoft Windows (MICROSOFT WINDOWS (registered trademark)). The device function detection application program 110 may include any computer program that can effectively execute processing related to the peripheral devices 112 and 114. Specific examples of application program 110 include device drivers, word processors, spreadsheets, email clients, and database clients.

  Interface 108 may include any hardware, firmware, software, or combination thereof capable of communicating data between host computer 104, peripheral devices 112, 114, and network 116. Specific examples of the interface 108 include a network interface card (NIC), and include an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a serial interface, an IEEE1394 (FIREWIRE) interface, and a parallel port. A confidential data communication interface may be used, and this embodiment does not require a standard interface.

  This embodiment may be used with peripheral devices coupled to any kind of computer. Specific examples of the peripheral devices 112 and 114 with which this embodiment may be used include a printer, a scanner, a multifunction peripheral, a finishing device (such as a bookbinding machine, a sorter, and a gluing machine), a digital camera, a web camera, and a storage system. Although FIG. 1 merely shows two peripheral devices 112 and 114 for simplicity, this embodiment may work with any number of the same or different peripheral devices.

  The device capability detection application 110 may include one or more stored instruction sequences and other software elements that implement the functions described herein. In general, the device function detection application 110 receives a function call from the operating system 106 or the application 110 and can interact with any peripheral device 112, 114, causing the peripheral device to execute a job started by the application program. The device function detection application 110 may include a device driver. The device capability detection application 110 can work with any peripheral device 112, 114 that can provide a description of the features or functions described further below. The device function detection application 110 may be integrated with other software elements or firmware elements of the operating system 106, the application program 110, and the host computer 104. In this embodiment, the device function detection application 110 is a stand-alone software element. It is not essential to realize as.

  FIG. 2 illustrates how data is communicated between the device function detection application and the function-aware peripheral device of FIG. In one embodiment, device capability detection application 110 includes device capability consumer logic 202 and job ticket producer logic 204. The function awareness peripheral device 112 includes a device function producer logic 212 and a job ticket consumer logic 214.

  Device capability consumer logic 202 receives and understands device capability data 206. The job ticket producer logic 204 generates job ticket data 208 and sends it to the job ticket consumer logic 214. Device capability producer logic 212 generates capability data 206 and sends it to device capability detection application 110. The job ticket consumer logic 214 receives and understands the job ticket and executes it as a command related to the function-aware peripheral device 112.

  The device function data 206 includes data describing one or more capabilities, features or functions of the function-aware peripheral device 112. The peripheral device 112 generates device function data 206 and provides it to the device function detection application 110. The device function data 206 is generated at the time of a request from the application 110. Accordingly, the device capability data 206 can include a description of the peripheral device's capabilities, features and functions of the peripheral device 112 at the time of the request. For example, the device function data 206 may include information indicating that the peripheral device has the following characteristics when the peripheral device is a printer. For example, (1) Document size: A5, A4, A3, Letter, 11x17, Legal. . . (2) Document supply source: flatbed, sheet feeder,. . . (3) Resolution: 100x100dpi, 200x200dpi. . . (4) Paper supply source: manual feed tray, first tray, second tray, etc.

  Device capability data 206 may be used in various formats, methods and means. Specific examples of device capability data 206 used in various embodiments include XML, XML-based representations, HTML, and the like. This embodiment is not limited to XML, and any other specific method or means for describing the function of the device may be used. However, the representation of the device function represented by the device function data 206 is separated from the device-independent data 210.

  The job ticket 208 has a description of settings and is sent from the application 110 to the peripheral device 112 to instruct the peripheral device how to process a specific job related to all or part of the device-independent data 210 To do. In one embodiment, application 110 notifies peripheral device 112 of one or more job tickets 208. In general, the job ticket 208 has data for notifying the peripheral device 112 of a certain selection content, and the selection content is selected from the functions available in the peripheral device as represented by the device function data 206, the user, The application or system has chosen. For example, the job ticket 208 may specify a paper tray, N-up, finishing options (such as stapling, punching, etc.) or other job settings. The job ticket 208 may include a description of specific settings such as: (1) Document size: Letter, (2) Paper source: Tray 2 (3) Scanning resolution: 200x200 dpi, etc. In various embodiments, the job ticket 208 may be expressed in XML, may be expressed in a web service ticket format, may be expressed as a group of name / value pairs, Alternatively, it may be expressed in other descriptive text or data.

  The device-independent data 210 includes data that can be used by the peripheral device 112 but does not include any commands specific to the peripheral device. In the case of a device that processes still images, such as a scanner, digital camera, or monitor, the device independent data 210 may be composed of JPEG, TIFF, or GIF image data. In the case of a printer, the device-independent data 210 may include a PDF file, EPS, postscript file, etc., and may not include a hardware control command. Alternatively, any PDL and PCL data that contains no hardware control commands or a minimal set can be used as device independent data 210.

  In one embodiment, the device function detection application 110 and the function-aware peripheral device 112 communicate data using some form of basic application layer communication protocol, which includes the device function detection application 110 and the function-aware peripheral device. 112 can support. FIG. 2 shows one functional awareness peripheral device 112 for simplicity of explanation, but the communication of FIG. 2 is made between the device functional detection application 110 and any functional awareness peripheral device 112 operating with it. Also good.

  In one embodiment, the protocol includes a web service, and each of the device function detection application 110 and the function-aware peripheral device 112 implements a web service function. For example, each of the device function detection application 110 and the function awareness peripheral device 112 has web service logic, and the web service logic can generate an application layer message according to the web service standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (w3c), And can interpret and process such messages.

  FIG. 3 illustrates an example process for function-based control of a peripheral device coupled to a computer.

  In one embodiment, the device function detection device generates device function data 206 and sends the generated device function data to the device function detection application. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the peripheral device 112 generates device function data 206 describing the capabilities, features, and functions of the device and sends the device function data to the device function detection application 110. The device function data 206 may be generated in response to the peripheral device 112 receiving a request from the device function detection application 110, for example. In response to receiving a request from another application in preparation for interacting with the peripheral device 112 (eg, for printing a document or scanning a document), the device function detection application 110 Such a request may be issued.

  In step 302, in response to receiving the device capability data 206, the device capability detection application 110 converts the device capability data 206 into user interface data and based on the user interface data as illustrated in block 304. Causes the user interface to be displayed. For example, the device function detection application 110 converts the device function data 206 into a tree format so that the display appears as a user interface on an input / output unit such as a display of the host computer 104.

  In step 306, input from a user selecting one or more options is received via a previous user interface. For example, the device capability detection application 110 receives input from a user representing a user selection regarding options in a tree format.

  In response, at step 308, job ticket data is generated based on the user's selection. For example, the device function detection application 110 converts the received device function data 206 into job ticket data 208 including a designation selected by the received user. In one embodiment, the transformation comprises converting job ticket data 208 in an XML document by transforming one or more XML elements of device capability data 206 according to an XML style sheet transformation (XSLT) that is receiving user input. May include creating.

  One outcome of this approach is that even functions recently added to the peripheral device 112 are reflected or listed in the device capability data 206. In addition, the device function detection application 110 does not need to know about such recently added functions or new functions, or what device control commands are required to activate recently added functions or new functions. There is no need to know. Instead, the peripheral device 112 presents data describing the command condition and its characteristics to the device function detection application 110. The device function detection application 110 acquires input from the user regarding desired job settings, and generates a job ticket 208 that reflects such settings in the device function data 206 based on the characteristics and command conditions.

  In one embodiment, device capability data 206 and job ticket data 208 may include a number of job ticket formats such as the Print Schema Standard Specification and Job Definition Format (JDF) that are part of Microsoft's XML Paper Specification (XPS). It may be expressed in any of Other job ticket formats may be used, and the present embodiment is not limited to using JDF or XPS.

  In general, the device capability data 206 includes a list of device features. In one embodiment, each feature is determined using a name, user interface display name, selection type, and the like. Specific examples of the selection type may include a selection list or a list, a number, a character string, and the like. The device function definition may include a restriction characteristic, and the restriction characteristic is a restriction when using a certain function of the apparatus or a setting value that can be set for the function, and the availability and setting of other functions of the apparatus. Depends on the value.

Table 1 shows a specific example of the device function data 206 expressed in the print schema format:
Table 1-Example of device function data

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a graphical user interface of a peripheral device with the LongEdge option selected. The long edge option means that the long side of the paper is bound with staples. The example of FIG. 4 corresponds to the device function data example of Table 1.

  In the case of the example of FIG. 4, the display screen 402 generated by the application program includes a user interface panel 404, and the user interface panel is configured so that the user can interact with the capabilities, features, or functions of the peripheral devices. For example, assume that the device is a printer, and one feature is that double-sided printing is possible. The duplex option has values of off, long edge (long edge binding) or short edge (short edge binding), and allows the user to specify how double-sided printing is performed. In FIG. 4, the long edge option is selected. The selection of the long edge option is an example of utilizing input from the user received using the user interface in step 306 of FIG.

Table 2-Job ticket examples

  In one embodiment, a job ticket 208 having the format of Table 2 may be executed on functional awareness peripheral device 112 using job ticket consumer logic 214. For this approach, the combination of device capability data 206 and job ticket 208 carries some information sufficient for the device capability detection application 110, which represents the capabilities of the peripheral device and is user selectable. Information sufficient to provide a user interface to the user and receive user selections of the appropriate type or option for a particular job. However, neither the device capability detection application 110 nor any other software that interacts with the application requires an understanding of the substantial meaning of the capabilities, features and functions of the device capability data 206 obtained from the peripheral device, It doesn't need to be coded.

  Thus, peripheral device manufacturers are not required to create custom device drivers with specialized user interfaces for each peripheral and platform combination. In addition, manufacturers have released new products (peripherals) and new functionality without releasing new device drivers and without requiring end users to upgrade their computers with new device drivers. Can be installed in products (peripheral devices).

  FIG. 5 shows examples of functions of the device function producer logic and the device function consumer logic.

  In one embodiment, device function producer logic 212 is accepted by a host computer of an apparatus to perform the following functions. Step 502 includes receiving a request from a device capability detection application and obtaining peripheral device capabilities. For example, the device capability producer logic 212 of the device 112 receives a request from the device capability detection application 110 and presents the capabilities of the peripheral device.

  Accordingly, in step 504, the current peripheral device functions are confirmed. Step 504 includes reading the registry, configuration file, Management Information Base (MIB) and other repository information (information describing the current function of the device).

  In step 506, a description of the function is sent as device function data 206 from the peripheral device to the device function detection application. Step 506 forms the device capability data 206 according to an XML schema, such as a print schema, and encodes the capabilities, features and functions in the device capability data 206 upon receipt of the peripheral device request. Including. This device capability data 206 is sent to the application, which is indicated by the arrows following step 506 to step 508.

  In step 508, the device function consumer logic 202 receives a function description (device function data 206) from the peripheral device. In response, at step 510, logic 202 creates one or more GUI elements based on the functional description, and at step 512, the logic causes the GUI elements to be displayed. For example, the GUI of FIG. 4 is created and presented to the display or provided to the operating system 106 for display.

  Step 514 includes receiving input from a user representing a choice of one or more GUI elements and providing the user input to the job ticket producer logic. For example, the device function consumer logic 202 receives user input from the operating system 106 or from its device driver in the form of data representing mouse clicks, keyboard presses or user input. The logic 202 converts the options as necessary, and provides the job ticket producer logic 204 of the application 110 with the content selected by the user.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of the functions of the job ticket producer logic and job ticket consumer logic.

  In step 602, the job ticket producer logic 204 (receiving the content selected by the user in step 514 of FIG. 5) describes the job of the peripheral device based on the GUI element selected by the user. Create Device capability data 206 is used to determine job ticket data. For example, the job ticket data 208 is generated based on or in accordance with the content selected by the user in step 514. Further, the job ticket 208 may be created based on the device function data 206 and may have information obtained by converting at least a part of the device function data. In step 604, the job ticket producer logic sends the job ticket data to the peripheral device.

  In step 606, the job ticket consumer logic 214 accordingly converts the job ticket data into one or more device-specific processing commands for the peripheral device (ie, convert them to processing commands for the peripheral device). Step 606 includes returning job ticket data 208 in print schema representation to one or more function calls, command line instructions, method invocations, or other instructions to the device. In one embodiment, the print schema representation is converted using a Microsoft XML parser. In step 608, the job ticket consumer logic causes the peripheral device to execute the processing command.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of the function of the device function detection application. In step 702, the device function detection application 110 creates and displays a list of available peripheral devices. For example, the device capability detection application 110 first receives a request to print a document from another application program such as a word processor. In response, the device capability detection application 110 checks which peripheral devices are known or available and causes a list of such peripheral devices to be displayed. Peripheral devices can be discovered using normal discovery protocols. The list can be displayed in a graphical user interface using a widget such as a combo box.

  In step 704, the device capability detection application receives a user input representing a selection of available peripheral devices. For example, input from a user representing selection of an option in a combo box is received.

  Step 706 includes sending a request to the selected available peripheral device to obtain the capabilities of that peripheral device. For example, the device function detection application 110 sends a request for obtaining a function of the peripheral device at that time (when the request is received) to the peripheral device 112, and the function of the peripheral device is transmitted to the user according to the device function data 206. And receiving input from a user for setting a job for printing a document. Executing step 706 gives a trigger for performing step 502 in FIG.

  One of the outcomes of FIGS. 5 and 6 is that an application can request the current capabilities of a peripheral device, generate a user interface representing that capability, receive input from the user regarding specific job settings, The job setting can be provided to the peripheral device in a way that causes the device to execute the job setting. The application does not need to understand the application or have special code that can generate its user interface. The application may be a general (universal) device driver.

  In addition, device function data 206 is dynamically generated at the peripheral device at the time of the request, and exchanges with the peripheral device based on the device function at the time of the request. The approach and device function detection application can work with any peripheral device such as: The peripheral device uses the device function data 206 in response to a request from the device function detection application. The function can be explained, and the command expressed by the job ticket generated on the host computer side can be analyzed and executed. No changes are required for the application program or the way the user interacts with the application program. It is not essential to change the operating system.

  In one embodiment, if the user application continues to use the device driver at the same time in the form of a device function detection application 110 that functions as a universal device driver, the processing performed by the user does not change. However, although the user interface with which the user interacts may change from moment to moment as the peripheral device is updated, it is not essential to update the device function detection application 110 in the host computer.

2.2 In one embodiment of automatically generating function-based computer peripheral drivers , the job ticket-based print stream is integrated into a page description language (PDL) based printing system. Specific examples of PDL are Postscript, PCL and PII. A specific example of a PDL-based printing system is Microsoft Windows Vista. In one embodiment, a printer and a printer driver, which are examples of peripheral devices, exchange device function data, job ticket data, and device-independent print data. One of the effects of using the concept of the present invention in this embodiment is that a new device is automatically installed and installed so that a new device introduced after the driver is installed on the host computer. And the printer driver can support the functions.

  In one embodiment, the above integration can be achieved through logic or processing that can automatically generate a printer driver compatible with a specified operating system. For example, the technique allows a printer driver for Microsoft Windows Vista to be automatically generated without significant user effort. For example, when using a peripheral device from a disk or other media, the user does not need to manually locate or prepare a driver file. Furthermore, the printer driver is automatically generated based on the current function of the printer described by the printer. When new printers are introduced into the computer environment, or existing printers are upgraded, the technique automatically automates drivers without requiring significant user effort or driver file management. Can be generated and installed automatically.

  FIG. 9 illustrates an example system that integrates job ticket-based printing with PDL-based printing. The host computer 104 includes an operating system 902, a universal driver printing subsystem 904, a postscript driverless extension 906, and a page control language (PCL) driverless extension 908. A specific example of the operating system 902 is Microsoft Windows Vista. The universal driver printing subsystem 904 is configured to automatically load a device driver that can generate a job ticket and generate instructions in a page description language (PDL) to drive a PDL compatible device 112. Driverless extensions 906, 908 allow the universal driver printing subsystem 904 to be integrated with PostScript and PCL devices. The function of elements 904, 906, 908 is further described in the following sections.

  The function awareness peripheral device 112 includes a printer function file 916, a job ticket 918 for the PDL table, a job ticket PDL conversion logic 920, and a PDL rendering engine 922. In general, the functional awareness peripheral device 112 sends a printer function file 916 (corresponding to the aforementioned device function data 206) to the universal driver printing subsystem 904 in the form of printer function data 910 in response to a request from the subsystem. Built to be.

  In response to this, the universal driver print subsystem 904 or the expansion units 906 and 908 prepare a print ticket 912 representing the user selection of the job setting and transmit it to the peripheral device 112. At the same time or at another time, the peripheral device 112 receives job data 914 from the application. The print ticket and the job data are combined and correspond to the aforementioned job ticket data. This is because when the peripheral device is a printer, the job data is necessary to correspond to the content desired to be printed. Then, the function awareness peripheral device 112 converts the job setting expressed by the print ticket 912 and the job data 914 into a PDL command and page data using the job ticket 918 and the job ticket PDL conversion logic 920 for the PDL table. . The resulting PDL data is provided to the PDL rendering engine 922 to generate a printable page image. Using the printable page image, the peripheral device 112 can print one or more print documents 930.

  The example of FIG. 9 has been described in connection with printing. However, the peripheral device 112 may be any device compatible with PDL, and the present embodiment is not limited to a printer. For example, the peripheral device 112 may constitute a PDL compatible graphics workstation.

  FIG. 10 shows a state in which a printer driver is automatically generated based on device function data. Driver generation logic 1002 is accepted by host computer 104 and corresponds to or forms part of universal driver printing subsystem 904. In general, general printer driver files and packages 1050 are automatically (on demand) automatically based on the current capabilities of the driven peripheral device as well as the core printer driver requirements. The driver generation logic 1002 is constructed to generate. When a user, application or system discovers the presence of a peripheral device coupled to the host computer or is available in the network, when such a peripheral device is used for the first time, or explicit application, user or system “On-demand” means that a driver may be created when responding to a request.

  The driver generation logic 1002 receives the metadata 1010 from the functional awareness peripheral device 112. This metadata includes data that generally describes the attributes of the peripheral device 112, such as device name, network address, network port number, manufacturer name, model number, or other descriptive information. The metadata 1010 may include any type of information that generally describes the peripheral device 112, and this embodiment is not limited to the listed metadata examples.

  The driver generation logic 1002 further receives a configuration file 1004 from the host computer 104. Configuration file 1004 forms part of operating system 902 and generally indicates how to configure and organize general printer driver files and packages 1050. For example, the configuration file 1004 identifies a location in the file system of the host computer 104 and stores general printer driver files and packages 1050 at that location.

  The generation logic 1002 further receives a basic generic printer driver 1006. In one embodiment, the basic generic printer driver 1006 is obtained from a file associated with the operating system 902 and has code that is common to all device drivers compatible with the operating system. For example, a basic generic printer driver 1006 is interoperable with operating system services such as a printer spooler, a graphical user interface window manager, and the like.

  The generation logic 1002 further receives printer configuration data 1012, printer function data 1014, and vendor specific extension data 1016 from the function detection device 112. In one embodiment, the printer configuration data 1012 includes model specific configuration data for the peripheral device 112. For example, the printer configuration data 1012 may indicate that the peripheral device 112 is a Postscript printer. In one embodiment, printer capability data 1014 may include one or more capabilities, features, and optional structured text lists of peripheral device 112. In one embodiment, the vendor specific (manufacturer specific) extension data 1016 includes a vendor specific code that allows a device driver to be used simultaneously with a particular peripheral device 112. For example, the vendor-specific extension data 1016 specifies how to access and control the rendering engine in the peripheral device 112 so that the peripheral device functions can be performed, for example, so that the print is finished cleanly. May contain data, or it may contain data that specifies how the device vendor will access and control other services implemented in the device firmware or software. Also good. This makes it possible to provide the unique characteristics of the manufacturer.

  The driver generation logic 1002 further receives a mapping file 1008 from the host computer 104. In one embodiment, the mapping file 1008 is associated with the operating system 902, maps the operating system callback function to the associated service of the device 112, or the device feature name is universally recognized by the operating system. Associate with a name in another language.

  Based on the reception of the above information, the driver generation logic operates to automatically generate a general printer driver file and a package 1050 as necessary.

  FIG. 11 shows the data structure used to automatically generate device drivers based on device capabilities. Examples of such data structures are also provided in the appendix of the original application. In one embodiment, driver generation logic 1002 includes format conversion logic 1012 and a web service device (WSD) API module 1104. Other elements in the upper portion of FIG. 11 may be implemented in the host computer 104 and communicate with a web service printer (WS-Printe-2) service in the device 112 using a web service protocol 1118. Information on web service protocols is available from the W3C Consortium Online specified at www.w3c.org.

  The format conversion logic 1102 generates a general printer description (GPD) file 1124. Driver generation logic 1002 allows GPD 1124 to be integrated with a vendor specific UI plug-in 1120. The GPD 1124 is used by the printing subsystem to generate print function data in the print schema print function format, create a print function definition 1128, and store it in the print schema format (PSF). Information specifying PSF is available from Microsoft. The driver generation logic 1002 generates a print function definition 1128 using a UI plug-in 1120 and a core driver 1126 specific to the manufacturer.

  Generally, a vendor (manufacturer) of the peripheral device 112 provides a vendor-specific UI plug-in 1120 and core driver 1126 to the operating system 902 vendor, and the plug-in 1120 and core driver 1126 use the operating system. Cause plug-ins and core drivers to be sent to the end user, or cause them to be integrated there. Accordingly, the plug-in 1120 and core driver 1126 are available in the operating system 902 whenever the driver generation logic 1002 needs to generate a driver.

  The resulting print function definition 1128 can be used to interact with the peripheral device, and in one embodiment, the definition is received by the application program 1130, which is based on the received definition and is vendor specific. A print scheme print ticket 1132 is also generated based on inputs from the UI plug-in 1120 and the core driver 1126. An example of the application program 1130 is a word processor or a spreadsheet.

  The print schema print ticket is converted into a print ticket binary 1134 and then converted into a semantic print ticket 1136. The semantic print ticket or semantic print ticket 1136 is used to create a web service device (WSD) print job 1138 that includes the semantic print ticket. A job 1138 (corresponding to the aforementioned job ticket data) is sent to the peripheral device 112 using the web service protocol 1118, causing the data to be printed.

  FIG. 12 is a ladder diagram showing automatic driver generation and installation.

  The steps of FIG. 12 are executed by each element of the operating system 902, the driver generation logic 1002, and the function detection device 112. In one embodiment, the driver generation function 1206 of FIG. 12 becomes an element of the driver generation logic 1002. In one embodiment, device 112 comprises a printer 1214 (web service enable printer) that is enabled with a web service as shown in FIG.

  In one embodiment, the operating system 902 includes a driver setup API 1202, a driver store 1204, a network folder service 1208, a function discovery API 1210, and a network discovery provider 1212. By calling a specified function of the operating system appearing in the API, the driver setup API 1202 allows the application in the host computer 104 to set a new device driver. The driver store 1204 has a database or repository of data regarding device drivers that are installed and managed by the operating system. The network folder service 1208 has logic to display a folder of information about a device or other resource, which may be in the host computer 104 or uses one or more networks. May be directly or indirectly coupled to the host computer. The function discovery API 1210 is logic that allows an application to discover functions within an operating system or within a network. Network discovery provider 1212 is logic that enables applications to discover devices or resources in the network to which host computer 104 is coupled.

  In one embodiment, automatically generating device drivers may be done in response to the user opening a network folder (step 1220), e.g., recently updated or moved devices or new It may be performed when the device is used or discovered by the user. In response, the network folder service 1208 sends a message to the network discovery provider 1212 and sends a multicast message to the network, to which the host computer 104 is coupled. The WSD printer 1214 receives the multicast message, recognizes its name in the message, and returns a response 1224. Response 1224 is received at function discovery API 1210, which generates a function instance representing the device as shown in step 1226. The function discovery API 1210 generates a list of all known function instances representing the device and sends it to the network folder service 1208, which displays a list of known or discovered devices at step 1230. The list may be displayed on a panel of a graphical user interface managed by the operating system.

  In step 1232, user input is received that selects one of the available devices from the displayed list. In response to this, the device driver of the selected peripheral device is automatically generated by the driver generation logic 1206 in step 1234. Processes other than those described here may be used to automatically generate a device driver at that time, if necessary, using all of the selected peripheral's current functions. Good.

  When device driver generation is complete, in step 1236, the driver store is updated to reflect the new driver. As a result, the operating system 902 becomes aware of the new driver and can refer to and use the new driver in response to subsequent requests for simultaneous use with the peripheral device. The driver store 1204 may initiate an “add device” process at step 1238, which may take the form of an installation wizard. The setup API 1202 executes an “add device” process and completes the installation of a new device at step 1240.

  FIG. 13 is a ladder diagram showing a printing operation using the automatically generated printer driver. In step 1312, the application 1302 selects a printer driver. For example, the user instructs the application 1302 to print a document with a specific printer. In response to this, the application 1302 activates the print spooler 1304. The spooler 1304 issues a request for a specific printer to the driver and displays a user interface showing available printer settings. In response, the user interface service 1306 loads and displays a user interface showing a list of available printer settings supported by the printer function, as shown in step 1314.

  The example of FIG. 13 assumes that the user currently provides input or makes selections for each printer setting. In response, the user interface service 1306 generates and stores a print ticket in the print schema format for the print job using the selected printer settings. After the user confirms the changes made to the printer settings by issuing a “print” command (or another equivalent), the print spooler 1304 sends a close request to the driver, and the driver user interface is Closed (closed) at step 1318, the user interface service 1306 notifies the spooler 1304 that the user interface service has ended. In response, spooler 1304 returns control to the application at step 1320, indicating that the printer characteristics selection process is complete and the system is ready to perform printing.

  In step 1322, the application 1302 starts a printing process, and provides data to be printed to the spooler 1304. The spooler 1304 notifies the application 1302 that the data has been received, and the spooler returns control to the application in step 1324. At the same time, spooler 1304 sends a job ticket to the printer using one of two alternatives.

  In one alternative, in step 1326, after initialization but just before rendering, spooler 1304 converts the print schema job ticket into a semantic schema job ticket and prints the converted job ticket using PDL. Send to printer with job. In the other alternative case, after initialization, in step 1328, the print processor 1304 converts the print schema job ticket into a semantic schema job ticket and sends the converted job ticket to the printer along with the print job using PDL.

3.0 Hardware Overview FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of a computer system 800 used in an embodiment of the present invention. Computer system 800 includes a bus 802 or other communication means for communicating information, and a processor 804 for processing information coupled with bus 802. Computer system 800 has a main memory 806 coupled to a bus 802 such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, which stores instructions and information executed by processor 804. Main memory 806 may be used to store temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions executed by processor 804. Computer system 800 further includes a read only memory (ROM) or other static storage device coupled to bus 802 that stores instructions and static information for processor 804. A storage device 810, such as a magnetic disk or other optical disk, is provided and coupled to bus 802 for storing information and instructions.

  Computer system 800 may be coupled via bus 802 to a display 812, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying information to a user. An input device 814 that includes alphanumeric and other keys is coupled to the bus 802 to notify the processor 804 of information and command selections. Another type of user input device is a cursor control device 816 (eg, a mouse, trackball, stylus, or cursor direction key) that informs the processor 804 of instruction information and command selection and controls cursor movement on the display 812. Control. The input device typically has two degrees of freedom with two axes, a first axis (eg, x) and a second axis (eg, y), allowing the device to specify a position on the plane.

  The invention is related to utilizing a computer system 800 of wireless communication architecture. According to one embodiment of the invention, wireless communication is provided by computer system 800 in response to processor 804 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 806. Such instructions may be read into main memory 806 from other computer readable media such as storage device 810. Execution of the instruction sequence contained in main memory 806 causes processor 804 to perform the process steps described herein. One or more processors in a multiprocessing configuration may be used to execute the instruction sequence contained in main memory 806. In alternative embodiments, hardwired circuitry may alternatively be used or in combination with software instructions to implement the present invention. That is, embodiments of the present invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

  The term “machine-readable medium” as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing instructions for execution by processor 804. For examples implemented utilizing computer system 800, various machine-readable media are included, for example, used to provide instructions to processor 804 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to storage media and transmission media. Storage media includes both non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 810. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 806. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and optical fiber, and includes the wires that make up bus 802. Transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio wave and infrared data communications. Such a medium must be feasible to allow the instructions carried on the medium to be detected by physical means that read the instructions into the machine.

  The general form of machine readable medium is floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape or any other magnetic medium, CD-ROM or any other optical medium, punch card, paper tape or any other having a hole pattern It includes physical media, RAM, PROM, EPROM, flash EPROM and other memory chips, cartridges, carrier waves as described above, or any other medium readable by a computer.

  Various machine readable forms are also applicable when carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor 804 for execution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on a remote computer magnetic disk that is far away. The remote computer may load the instructions from its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem near computer system 800 receives the data over a telephone line and converts the data into an infrared signal using an infrared transmitter. An infrared detector coupled to bus 802 receives data carried in the infrared signal and places the data on bus 802. The bus 802 carries data to the main memory 806, and the processor 804 extracts and executes instructions from the main memory. The instructions received by main memory 806 may be selectively stored on storage device 810 either before or after execution by processor 804.

  Computer system 800 also includes a communication interface 818 coupled to bus 802. Communication interface 818 provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link 820 that is connected to a local network 822. For example, the communication interface 818 may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card or modem that provides a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. In another example, the communication interface 818 may be a LAN card that provides a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. A wireless link may be used. In any implementation, communication interface 818 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals and carries digital data streams representing various types of information.

  Network link 820 typically provides data communication with other data devices over one or more networks. For example, the network link 820 provides a connection with a host computer via the local network 822 or a connection with a data device operated by an Internet service provider (ISP) 826. ISP 826 then provides data communication services via a worldwide packet data communication network (commonly referred to today as the Internet 828). Both the local network 822 and the Internet 828 use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. Signals over various networks and through communication interface 818 at network link 820 may take the form of a carrier wave that carries digital data to and from the computer system and carries information, for example.

  Computer system 800 transmits messages and receives data including program codes via a network, network link 820 and communication interface. In the Internet example, the server 830 may send the requested code for the application program via the Internet 828, ISP 826, local network 822 and communication interface 818. In accordance with the present invention, such a downloaded application is constructed such that the monitoring system monitors selected network elements as described above. The processor 804 may execute when it receives the received code, or it may execute as if it had been stored in the storage device 810 or other non-volatile storage for later execution. Thus, computer system 800 may obtain application code in the form of a carrier wave.

4.0 Extensibility and Alternatives From the foregoing description, embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to numerous specific details that may vary from implementation to implementation. What is claimed as the invention by the exclusive exclusion indicator for the present invention is the claims granted by this application in a particular manner, and the claims in that particular form Includes any subsequent corrections. Any explicitly stated definitions for terms appearing in the claims shall govern the meaning of such terms as used in the claims. Therefore, no element, property, feature, advantage or attribute that is not expressly recited in a claim should be construed as limiting the claim in any way. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

<Copyright>
A portion of the description of this patent application may contain copyrighted material. The copyright owner does not object to someone performing facsimile reproduction of the document of this application, such as that seen with respect to patent files and records at the Patent and Trademark Office, but in all other cases all copyrights Holding.

It is a figure which shows the example of a computer system in which a device function detection application and a function awareness peripheral device are used. It is a figure which shows the data communicated between the device function detection application of FIG. 1, and a function awareness peripheral device. It is a figure which shows the example of a function-based control process of a computer peripheral device. It is a figure which shows the example of the graphical user interface of the peripheral device by which the long edge option was selected. It is a figure which shows the function example of a device function producer logic and a device function consumer logic. It is a figure which shows the function example of a job ticket producer logic and a job ticket consumer logic. It is a figure which shows the function example of a device function detection application. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system in which an embodiment of the present invention is used. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system that integrates job ticket-based printing with PDL-based printing. FIG. It is a figure which shows a mode that a printer driver is automatically produced | generated based on a device function. FIG. 6 illustrates a data structure used to automatically generate a device driver based on device capabilities. It is a ladder diagram showing automatic driver generation and installation. FIG. 9 is a ladder diagram illustrating a printing operation using an automatically generated printer driver.

Explanation of symbols

102 User 104 Host Computer 106 Operating System 108 Interface 110 Device Function Detection Application 112, 114 Function Aware Peripheral Device 116 Network 202 Device Function Consumer Logic 204 Job Ticket Producer Logic 206 Device Function Data 208 Job Ticket Data 210 Device Independent Data 212 Device Function Producer Logic 214 Job Ticket Consumer Logic 402 Display Screen 404 User Interface Panel 800 Computer System 802 Bus 804 Processor 806 Main Memory 808 Read Only Memory 810 Storage Device 812 Display 814 Input Device 816 Cursor Control Unit 818 Through Interface 820 Network link 822 Local network 824 Host 826 Internet service provider 828 Internet 830 Server 902 Operating system 904 Universal driver printing subsystem 906 Driverless extension for postscript 908 Driverless extension for page control language (PCL) 910 Printer function data 912 Print ticket 914 Job data 916 Printer function file 918 Job ticket for PDL table 920 Job ticket PDL conversion logic 922 PDL rendering engine 1002 Driver generation logic 1004 Configuration file 1006 Basic general printer driver 1008 Mapping file 1010 Data 1012 printer configuration data 1014 printer function data 1016 vendor specific extension data 1050 general printer driver file and package 1102 format conversion logic 1104 web service device API
1118 Web service protocol 1120 Vendor specific UI plug-in 1122 UE plug-in PSPC
1124 PPD or GPD
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1126 Core driver 1128 Print function by PSF 1130 Application 1132 Print schema print ticket 1134 Print ticket binary 1136 Semantic print ticket 1138 WSD print job with SPT

Claims (17)

A data processing system having device driver generation logic and device job processing logic,
The device driver generation logic is :
The first capability description that has been written to one or more functions of the computer peripheral device receiving the computer peripheral device or al,
It receives the device driver files,
Receive configuration data ,
The first capability description, based previously Kide device driver files and configuration data, to generate a device driver for the computer peripheral instrumentation 置及 beauty computer operating system,
The device job processing logic is
Creating a list of the computer peripherals available to the device capability detection application;
Accepts selection of computer peripheral devices included in the list of computer peripheral devices;
Send a request to the computer peripheral that accepted the selection;
Based on the first function description information of the previous SL computer peripheral device that put the time of the request, it generates a job ticket describing the job to be executed in the computer peripheral device,
Providing job ticket that has been formatted in a page description language to the computer peripheral device, a data processing system. The device driver generation logic, the operating system receives user input representing a request to install a computer peripheral device newly discovered, to generate the device driver in response to the user input, data of claim 1, wherein Processing system. The device driver generation logic, the computer from a peripheral device, receiving the metadata identifying the attributes of the computer peripheral device, for generating the device driver based on the metadata, claim 1 data processing system according. The device driver generation logic, from the computer peripheral device, receiving the device configuration data that identifies model-specific features and options of the computer peripheral device, for generating the device driver based on the device configuration data, The data processing system according to claim 1.   The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the configuration data includes attribute values related to building a rendering module, a user interface module, and a device driver package. One or more computer-readable storage medium for execution encoded job ticket consumer logic is provided in the computer peripheral device, the job ticket consumer logic is
Converting the job ticket data into one or more device-specific processing commands of the computer peripheral device;
The process causes execute the command, according to claim 1 data processing system according to the computer peripheral device. The data processing system according to claim 1 , wherein the computer peripheral device includes any one of a printer, a multifunction peripheral, a scanner, a finishing device, a digital camera, and a monitor. The job ticket data, the form part of the first capability description, the data processing system of claim 1, wherein. The first function description information is a list of features related to the computer peripheral device, feature property name, property value, and property option expressed in either a job definition format (JDF) or a printing schema standard specification. format are Nde contains data processing system of claim 1, wherein. The device driver generation logic displays a list of a plurality of available peripheral devices, receive second user input representing that select one of the available peripheral devices, said second generating the device driver to send a request to that inner selected available peripheral devices that are represented in the user input, the data processing system of claim 1, wherein. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with one or more instruction sequences that, when executed, causes one or more processors to perform a procedure, the procedure comprising:
Device driver generation logic,
The first capability description that has been written to one or more functions of the computer peripheral device receiving the computer peripheral device or al,
It receives the device driver files,
Receive configuration data ,
The first capability description, based previously Kide device driver files and configuration data, to generate a device driver for the computer peripheral instrumentation 置及 beauty computer operating system,
Device job processing logic,
Creating a list of the computer peripherals available to the device capability detection application;
Accepts selection of computer peripheral devices included in the list of computer peripheral devices;
Send a request to the computer peripheral that accepted the selection;
Based on the first function description information of the previous SL computer peripheral device that put the time of the request, it generates a job ticket describing the job to be executed in the computer peripheral device,
Comprising providing a job ticket that has been formatted in a page description language to the computer peripheral device, a computer readable storage medium. Further comprising an instruction sequence that, when executed, receives from the operating system a user input representing a request to install a newly discovered computer peripheral device, and in response to the user input the automatic sequence The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , causing the one or more processors to perform a step of generating automatically. Further comprising an instruction sequence that, when executed, causes one or more processors to receive metadata identifying attributes of the computer peripheral device from the computer peripheral device; The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the device driver is generated based on metadata. One or more further comprising: an instruction sequence that, when executed, receives device configuration data identifying model-specific features and options of the computer peripheral device from the computer peripheral device; The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11 , wherein the device driver is generated based on the device configuration data. A method of data processing system having a device driver generation logic and device job processing logic executed,
The device driver generation logic is
The first capability description that has been written to one or more functions of the computer peripheral device receiving the computer peripheral device or al,
It receives the device driver files,
Receive configuration data ,
The first capability description, based previously Kide device driver files and configuration data, to generate a device driver for the computer peripheral instrumentation 置及 beauty computer operating system,
The device job processing logic is
Creating a list of the computer peripherals available to the device capability detection application;
Accepts selection of computer peripheral devices included in the list of computer peripheral devices;
Send a request to the computer peripheral that accepted the selection;
Based on the first function description information of the previous SL computer peripheral device that put the time of the request, it generates a job ticket describing the job to be executed in the computer peripheral device,
Comprising providing a job ticket that has been formatted in a page description language to the computer peripheral device, method. 16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising receiving user input from the operating system representing a request to install a newly discovered computer peripheral device and automatically generating the user input in response to the user input. The method of claim 15 , further comprising receiving metadata identifying an attribute of the computer peripheral device from the computer peripheral device, and generating the device driver based on the metadata.

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